Seattle has won three straight games at Carolina in the last three years, and in none of those games has either team scored 17 points.
Early in Russell Wilson’s rookie year, the Seahawks won 16-12 at Charlotte, and that’s been the highest scoring recent game between these teams. Seattle won 12-7 and 13-9 at the same stadium the last two seasons.
This is rare in the last 25 years, only three other teams have won three straight games against an opponent without ever scoring 17 points. It’s happened only seven times since the merger in 1970 (and those games are shown below).
In the Seahawks case, they did it with all three games being played on the road. No team in NFL history (including the ’20s and ‘30s) has a team played a team three straight times on the road, winning all three while not scoring 17 points in any of them.
That’s called defense.
The Seahawks have allowed the fewest points in the NFL three years in a row. That was last done by the 1969-71 Minnesota Vikings (who started off a three-game run against the Baltimore Colts with a 10-3 win in 1971.
Teams winning three straight low-scoring games against opponents (with neither team scoring 17 points) …
| ATLANTA v. CHICAGO | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Winner | Score | Site |
| 1974 | Falcons | 13-10 | (Atl) |
| 1976 | Falcons | 10-0 | (Chi) |
| 1977 | Falcons | 16-10 | (Chi) |
| CHICAGO v. GREEN BAY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Winner | Score | Site |
| 1978 | Bears | 14-0 | (Chi) |
| 1979 | Bears | 6-3 | (Chi) |
| 1979 | Bears | 15-14 | (GB) |
| MINNESOTA v. BALTIMORE COLTS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Winner | Score | Site |
| 1971 | Vikings | 10-3 | (Minn) |
| 1982 | Vikings | 13-10 | (Minn) |
| 1988 | Vikings | 12-3 | (Minn) |
| ATLANTA v. SAN DIEGO | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Winner | Score | Site |
| 1991 | Falcons | 13-10 | (SD) |
| 1994 | Falcons | 10-9 | (Atl) |
| 1997 | Falcons | 14-3 | (SD) |
| TENNESSEE v. BALTIMORE | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Winner | Score | Site |
| 1998 | Titans | 12-8 | (Balt) |
| 1998 | Titans | 16-14 | (Tenn) |
| 1999 | Titans | 14-11 | (Tenn) |
| INDIANAPOLIS v. CLEVELAND | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Winner | Score | Site |
| 2003 | Colts | 9-6 | (Clev) |
| 2005 | Colts | 13-6 | (Ind) |
| 2008 | Colts | 10-6 | (Clev) |
| SEATTLE v. CAROLINA | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Winner | Score | Site |
| 2012 | Seahawks | 16-12 | (Car) |
| 2013 | Seahawks | 12-7 | (Car) |
| 2014 | Seahawks | 13-9 | (Car) |
In this century, there have been only three series that have gone three straight games with neither team scoring 17 points. Seahawks and Colts (vs. Cleveland) are listed above. The only other occurrence would be in the 2000-01 seasons with Baltimore and Pittsburgh, with the Ravens winning two of those games.
(Not saying, by the way, that the Seahawks won't score 20-plus points on Saturday -- I think they will -- but I was looking into this and thought the findings were interesting.)
—Ian Allan